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The best game in the long-standing Nevada-UNLV rivalry is still the first one

The much-disputed kick was good. Just ask the guy who booted the ball.

The Nevada and UNLV football team's renew their rivalry at 3:04 p.m. Saturday, marking the 39th game between the in-state foes. The most memorable of those games is likely the first matchup between the teams, a 30-28 Wolf Pack victory in the 1969 season finale.

The inaugural game came down to a last-minute field goal, which John Barnes booted through the uprights for the victory. Or did he?

By the time Barnes attempted the field goal, Mackay Stadium was nearly cloaked in darkness. The stadium did not have lights and some observers (mostly UNLV players) argued that field goal missed. The game immediately became local folklore.

“It was getting pretty dark, but the field goal was right down the middle," Barnes said this week. "I don’t know where that ever started (that it wasn't good). I’m serious. It wasn’t even close. Right down the middle. Because the ref got caught up in the crowd – they brought in auxiliary stands in the end zone – he was trying to get out of the crowd and maybe that’s where it started. But it was good. I wasn’t going to miss it.”

Barnes, the high school coach of current Wolf Pack wide receiver Richy Turner, remembers every detail of that kick.

“It was a 33-yarder from the left hash, going toward the south end zone,” Barnes said.

Barnes, who also accounted for two touchdowns in that game as the team's quarterback, said the buildup to the first Nevada-UNLV matchup was a couple of years in the making. The Rebels announced in 1967 that they would start a football program, with the first game coming in 1968. The "Big Game," as it was called, against Nevada was one year later.

“It was the biggest game they ever had there at the time," Barnes said. "The governor was there and it was standing-room only. It was a big deal. I remember the game took forever. I was exhausted. Everybody was. It was just a long, long game. It was being hyped for a couple of years.”

This week's game will also be packed, with Nevada having sold out the game and offering students an additional 400 standing-room only spots.

Barnes was a senior in 1969 and the win over UNLV marked the final game in his Wolf Pack career.

“It was a great way to go out,” Barnes said. “I was hero for about 30 years.”